Where to Find Details of Shad Life?

Shad are the most important forage in most of the waters I fish. They are the primary food source of just about every fish I catch. I figure if I can understand what the shad are doing then I have a much better chance to catch a fish. Problem is, I don't seem to be able to find much about them. It is even hard to find out how to catch them or keep them alive. Much of what I can find using the internet is anecdotal, stuff like "put your live shad in a circular tank and throw in a handful of salt". How big of a tank? What kind of salt? Doesn't your handful of salt depend on how big the tank is?

Where can I find out all of the gory details of gizzard and threadfin shad life? I'd like to know why they seem to like the current edges in the Arkansas River or windy points on Beaver Lake. What exactly are they feeding on? At what temperatures do they spawn? How many times a year? How long can they live? I saw a thread in the Missouri section that stated they sampled 12 or 13 year old shad there!

I'm just whining because I can't seem to be able to find out any authoritative details that'll tell me why they like to come to the top and "pop" at dawn and dusk, but not always!

We have several biologists on here that could help you. Threadfin usually are found mostly from !-40 south as they can't take extreme cold. Shad feed on plankton (microrganisums) in the water. They will be where their feed is and fish usually not far behind.

Understanding Shad Means Understanding Bass

Great information there Nimrod. I never saw this article before but it should be required reading for every serious Crappie fisherman. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the link, Nimrod.

So far the best I could come up with was

Shad Species Used In Striped Bass Fishing. It has a lot of good info if you follow the links on the page.

I have some good papers at the office that I will try to post on here when I get back in the office.

That's a good read. Thanks.